On the 1st and 2nd day before Christmas my little one gave to me....2 seperate visits to the ER and some serious lack of sleep...

Ah the holidays...what would the holidays be without children being ill and not just sick, no, SUPER sick (as Zachary so plainly put it). On Monday I packed up the boys and headed to the ER as Isaac was not feeling very well at all and had a rough night a lot of coughing and high fevers...102 to 103). He didn't seem to be responding to his asthma treatments...so off to the ER we went in the morning. We spent a total of 3 hours there and found out that Isaac has viral bronchitis, his Xray showed bronchial infiltrates (the bad stuff). So they gave him some Motrin and another asthma Rx (Ativant) to help open him up. Naturally I stayed home that night from work since I had worked the night before and Sam had been up most of the night with Isaac (Sam has been sick too, so he needed some sleep). Isaac didn't sleep much Monday night and I was up and down giving Tylenol/Motrin and breathing treatments. After our visit to the ER, I kept thinking how the MD didn't check his throat or do any blood work. I found this odd since it seems that EVERYONE regardless of what they have (broken toe, scratch...etc) get an Xray and lab work done when they go through the ER at the hospital where I work. So I called his Pediatrician and scheduled a follow up appointment for Tuesday at 11:15 am.

So Tuesday morning rolls around and Isaac is still not feeling well (still running high fever and coughing a lot). It was 10 am and I had just finished getting ready when I hear Isaac trying to cry, coughing and grunting. I looked at him and he was pale, with pale lips and dark circles under his eyes...clearly not feeling well and having a hard time breathing (I had just given him his treatment 10 min before). So I grabbed the boys and put them quickly into the car and we rushed to the ER. "My son needs to be seen right away, he can't breathe" were my exact words to the front desk RN...so we were whisked away off to a room quickly. Multiple RNs and respiratory therapists came into the room and quickly assess him. He was running 103.3 fever. So this visit I made sure that I pushed for Isaac to get lab work and an IV since he wasn't taking fluids very well and hadn't peed in some time. We were there a total of 6 hours. He almost got admitted but the pediatrician said his lungs were clear and his 02 sats were good. He had a high white blood count and was treated with a dose of Rocephin and was given Prednisone. His fever finally broke at the ER (as he hasn't had one since). The Pediatrician said that he probably wAS getting the beginnings of mild pneumonia. So we came home with an Antibiotic for the infection and more prednisone. I still have to give his breathing treatments about every 4-6 hours. I worked last night too and didn't get much sleep before work since Isaac was sick and sleeping with me.

I am happy to say that he is feeling much better today. He's drinking more and eating some as well. I am so grateful that the fever subsided finally. I am taking him for a re-check with his MD in a little while.

I am so grateful to live in a time when we have such good medical care and medicines.

Merry Christmas!